With hiking trails and juice bars at every corner, it is easy to stay fit and healthy in Los Angeles

Why: Nothing beats southern California weather. In LA, almost every day is blessed with a clear blue sky. The city also has such an eclectic mix of interesting people who are incredibly friendly, laid-back and ready to tell you their story.

I grew up in both Singapore and LA, where I spent about a third of my life. While I attended Loyola Marymount University in LA, I lived with my siblings and business partners Valerie, 28, and Calvin, 27. We would take road trips to Las Vegas and Mammoth Mountain, and take our huskies for hikes in the Hollywood Hills. In LA, it is always a good day to be outside.

Favourite hotel

The famous Chateau Marmont (www.chateaumarmont.com), a small but well-known French chateau-style hotel in Hollywood.

I love its outdoor garden cafe, which is a great place to people-watch while eating a chopped salad (US$22, S$31) or a grilled chicken whole wheat sandwich (US$17). Celebrities love being undisturbed at Chateau Marmont.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (www.thehollywoodroosevelt.com) in Hollywood Boulevard also has a great vibe. It dates back to the 1920s and has accommodated legends such as Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. Now it is a modern, trendy hotel which throws lots of pool parties at Tropicana, its pool-cafe, during the summer.

The SLS Beverly Hills (slshotels.com/beverlyhills) is a contemporary style luxury hotel where I go for innovative cocktails and a great pool with sunset views.

Must eat

I must have sushi at Sugarfish (sugarfishsushi.com) every time I visit. Chef Nozawa has been making sushi for 50 years, and his simple sushi with lots of white vinegar in the rice is highly addictive.

There are eight locations in LA and the staff encourages guests to order from one of the three set menus, which makes ordering very fast and easy. The service is great and the turnover in the restaurant quick, which is good because the restaurant does not take reservations.

People may roll their eyes but some of the best food in LA is the raw, organic and vegetarian kind.

My favourite juice bar is Kreation Kafe. It has many outlets in LA, but I like the ones in Beverly Hills, which is just a store front, and in Abbot Kinney near Venice Beach, which has a sit-down restaurant.

Their juices are freshly made every day with raw, organic, gluten-free ingredients. Charcoalade, dissolved charcoal in sweet water to absorb toxins, is my drink of choice.

I frequented Burn60's Brentwood location. For the 60-minute class, the instructor has music pumping as he guides you through high- and low-speed intervals on the treadmill, followed by floor work, doing abdominal and arm workouts with equipment like Bosu balls and resistance bands.

They switch the workout up all the time and it is super effective for both strength and endurance training, and weight loss.

Go to Hot8Yoga for Omar's amazing class at the Beverly Hills location. Not only does he play awesome tribal-esque music with good beats during the hour-long hot yoga class, but he also gets you into a rhythmic flow that almost puts you into a trance.

Best activities

There are a lot of great hiking trails around LA, but I find myself going back to Escondido Falls in Malibu where there is a huge waterfall, Temescal Canyon and Parker Mesa Trail, both in the Pacific Palisades.

The 5km run along the beach from Marina Del Rey to Santa Monica is nice at sunset, when it is quiet and has fewer people.

Venice Beach is very interesting for people-watching and is much more crowded. It is where Muscle Beach (www.musclebeach.net/new) is located, a famous outdoor gym where all the bodybuilders go. It is filled with huge, tanned and buff bodybuilders with big personalities.

It is also known as the Witches House, for its spooky, Grimm Brothers' look, and when I went "trick-or-treating" at Halloween, coming to this house was the main event.

Event to bookmark

I recommend that everybody experience the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (www.coachella.com), a giant adult-oriented carnival held in an empty polo field.

With a huge ferris wheel, lots of artwork and sculptures,and music of all genres, Coachella trumps all other music festivals and has an extremely photogenic sunny Palm Springs location to boot.

Ideal length of stay

I suggest seven to 10 days to really experience the city. Keep in mind that LA traffic can be terrible and be a hindrance to your plans. Divide your agenda into regions - Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Malibu; Brentwood and Beverly Hills; downtown LA and Hollywood - and go to one each day.

The Straits Times

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